Acts 7:2-50 Stephen's Defense

Acts 7:2-8 Stephen cites how God dealt with Abraham. He quotes Genesis 12:1 to the effect that God told Abraham to leave Mesopotamia and Haran and move to a land He would show him. He quotes Gen 15:7, the promise that God gave Abraham to give him and his offspring the land. And then quotes Gen 15:13-14 to the effect that God warned Abraham that his offspring would be enslaved in Egypt and that He would bring them out of slavery after that, to serve Him in this land. And finally he references the covenant of circumcision that God gave Abraham long before Moses (Genesis 17:9-14).

 Acts 7:9-16 Stephen discusses how God dealt with Jacob and his twelve sons. God rescued Joseph after his brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt and made him governor of Egypt. And through these circumstances, Jacob and his entire family were saved from famine, and moved to Egypt, and settled there. Why did Stephen mention the relatively minor point that Jacob and Joseph were buried in the tomb in Shechem that Abraham had purchased? (Gen 50:4-13 and Joshua 24:32). Most likely this was in reference to God's fulfillment of the promise to give Abraham and his offspring the land of Canaan.

Acts 7:17-29 Stephen discusses how Moses grew up and was exiled from Egypt. He quotes Exodus 1:8 regarding the new king in Egypt who did not know Joseph. He recounts Moses' birth, upbringing, and how Moses killed an Egyptian who was treating a Hebrew unjustly, thinking he was delivering Israel. And then when he tried to get two Israelites who were fighting to reconcile, recognized that this was not going to work, and in quoting Exodus 2:14-15, Stephen shows that Moses realized he would be wanted for murder and fled to Midian. So Moses did not initially understand God or His plan at all and on top of that was a murderer.

Acts 7:30-36 Stephen discusses how God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt. Quoting Exodus 3:2-8, Stephen explains how God called Moses even though he was a most unlikely candidate, because He was God, the God of the patriarchs, and He was holy. And He was the one who would deliver Israel out of Egypt, even though Exodus 2:14 indicates the Israelites had little reason, in the natural, to accept Moses' leadership. He was chosen by God so that it was God who performed wonders and signs with Moses as His designated ruler and deliverer. It was all God.

Acts 7:37-44 Stephen discusses how the Israelites rebelled against Moses and God in the wilderness. In Deut 18:15 Moses told Israel that God would raise up for them a leader, just as He had spoken with Moses on Mount Sinai, He would speak to other leaders. But this was after they had tried to find their own leaders and asked Aaron to make a golden calf for them to worship (Exodus 32:1). Stephen quotes Amos 5:25-26 to the effect that God was not really worshipped by Israel even in the wilderness, not just with the golden calf that Aaron had made, but also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of Rompha. And they worshipped these other gods even though they had the tabernacle in the wilderness that was built just as God had told Moses and shown him the pattern for it. They had a copy of the heavenly tabernacle (Hebrews 8:5), yet rather than worship the true God, the God who delivered them out of Egypt, in the manner He had shown and directed them, they clung to worship of other Gods.

Acts 7:45-47 Stephen continues the story with Joshua leading Israel into the land, David finding favor in God's sight, and Solomon building the temple. Joshua, David, and Solomon each obeyed God and were successful in service to Him, in the particular role God had called them. Leading up to the building of the Temple in Jerusalem by Solomon, which ought to have established permanently the worship of the true God by Israel, according to His commands, so that He would dwell among them.

Acts 7:48-50 Stephen quotes Isaiah on the point of God not dwelling in a house made by human hands. The problem with Solomon's temple (and later, Herod's temple) is that an earthly tabernacle or temple in simply not equal to the task of being a dwelling place for the God who is the creator of all things, who is Himself uniquely not subject to the law of causality, but created it. Isaiah 66:1-2 quite simply states this question to Israel by God: "What kind of house will you build for Me?" At this point, it appears that Stephen is headed for a summation in which he can explain that Jesus was God incarnate and that the house that God really desires to dwell in is the church, the assembly of those who have surrendered to Christ, and that all of Israel's history was a picture and type of this truth, now actually present.